Disclaimer: Sadly, I do not own any of the devil may cry characters in this fiction, if I did, Kyrie would have died in the first ten minutes of the game and Dante and Nero would be together...and Vergil would be shirtless in the third game...and Arkham would wear a frilly princess dress for my entertainment.

Rated Mature for Violence, Possible Incest, Language, Angst, Hurting Nero, Hot Man Sex in later Chapters, Blood, Gore, and other things I'm still thinking up.

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Chapter Fourteen: Demon Skulls

Trish was starting to become really worried about Nero. She had tried several times to ask the young man if he wanted to eat but each time a different bang sounded behind the door. The demonic woman only hoped he was throwing Dante's things at the door and not himself. She sighed as her most recent attempt to get the young man to eat ended in another, very large, bang at the door. Trish left the door for another time that night as she heard the phone ring down in the main office, deciding to answer it instead of making Nero break another item in the bedroom.

"Devil May Cry."

"How is he?" Lady's voice spoke through the phone, sounding a bit worn out from her completed mission. Trish put a hand on her hip and sighed into the receiver.

"Refusing to eat and barricading himself in Dante's room. Every time I try to reason with him, he just throws something at the door." She said, looking up at the door to the elder hunter's bedroom as if expecting Nero to emerge from it at any second.

"Tell him I have a message for him." Trish nodded as she took note of the exact words before saying goodbye and hanging up. She walked back up to the door and knocked again, still receiving no response.

"Lady wanted me to pass along this message. 'You haven't eaten all day. Starving yourself isn't going to bring him back. Now stop acting so childish and come out this instant or I'll shove Kalina Ann's bayonet up your ass when I get back.' She sounded serious in my opinion." The demonic woman waited a moment, wondering if everything was alright since there was no loud bang this time. "Nero?"

"Just go away. Damn it." Trish folded her arms across her chest at the soft sob that came from behind the door. "I'm not coming out." Nero sounded hollow now, not enraged like the other times she knocked on the door.

"Well, if you decide to eat, you will have to get it yourself. I have a mission tomorrow so I need to get up early. The office is all yours until Lady gets here." Trish turned her back to the door and hesitating to leave. "Dante would want you to take care of yourself, Nero. Try to do that." When she did not receive a response, she went down the stairs and gathered her things before leaving.

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Nero had moved to sit by the door, surrounded by the pages of every book Dante had kept in the bottom drawer. He was curled in on himself, finally able to think a little better when Trish had left. No doubt the Sensus had brought out the anger and hatred he held against himself. It was all he could do to aim it at Trish instead of picking up the revolver sitting on Dante's bed. The thought had entered Nero's head several times but he pushed it aside, knowing it would be stupid to throw away his life when Dante sacrificed himself just so he could live.

Sighing, he buried his face in his arms again. He did not know what to do now that Dante was gone. The note that had been left for him was still in his left hand and the young man had no intentions of letting it go. Nero never expected the elder hunter's death to hit him this hard but it had.

Nero searched for any form of comfort in the room, wondering if Dante had hidden some secret book that contained information on how to bring someone back from the dead or something similar. The young hunter checked through the closet, finding nothing but an old torn red coat like the older man's current one hidden under the other articles of clothing. Nero hesitated before pulling the coat off the hanger carefully. The red leather was slightly worn out and the structure seemed smaller than the one the young man saw Dante wear normally. No doubt the coat had been from when the elder was a bit younger, possibly around Nero's age.

The ex-order member glanced at the door to the room, wondering if it would be bad if he touched the coat. He shrugged softy and walked over to the bed, setting the old coat onto it before taking off his blue denim one. Looking over the coat, Nero stripped off his hoodie and navy under shirt as well. He pulled the red leather on, blushing at the fact that he was now trying on and rummaging through Dante's things. He walked over to the full length mirror and clenched his fists tightly at the fact that despite his devil bringer, he really did look like a younger version of the devil hunter.

"Dante..." Nero sat back on the bed, still wearing the coat as looked into the mirror. A sad smile found it's way onto his lips as he noticed the right sleeve was missing, making it impossible to hid his right arm. He almost wanted to because something had wormed it's way into his mind, telling him that he was closer to Dante like this. "Come back..." Nero leaned back onto the bed about to wrap himself in the sheets when he saw a flash of red reflected in the mirror. He knew it was not the coat he was wearing because it was by the open window. The young hunter turned, his jaw dropping and his eyes widening at seeing the form of Dante sitting rather comfortably on the window sill.

"Say 'please', kid." The older man grinned before standing up and walking a few steps into the room. "I leave for a few hours and you mess up my room. I hope you know that a few of those books were hard to find-"

Dante felt something plow into him and force him to the floor. Before he could form a question, soft lips covered his and a hand threaded through his hair. Dante kissed back before the lips left his, the grin on his face widening.

"I didn't think you would miss me that much, kid. To be honest, I was expecting something more along the lines of-" The elder winced and shut his eyes tightly, groaning as he felt the knee leave his now aching groin. "...that."

"What the hell, Dante?!" Nero yelled at him as he got off him, apparently unaware of the tears running down his face. "How the hell could you pretend to be dead for so damn long?! Do you have any idea what I was going through when you were playing that stupid joke?!"

"Kid." Dante said but Nero ignored him and continued.

"You're lucky the Sensus curse didn't make me fucking shoot myself or anyone else here! And that stupid fucking note! I swear, if you play a sick joke like that again, I'll-!"

"Kid! Nero! Listen to me." Dante yelled, making Nero stop and choke back a sob that threatened to leave his lips. "I wasn't pretending or joking. I really did die and trust me, I don't want to again. Once was enough for me." He rubbed his chest as he stood up.

"But...how? How are you here? Or have I just lost it?" Nero said, sitting down on the edge of the bed and glaring down at the floor. Dante sighed and sat down next to the younger man, grabbing the back of his head and forcing Nero to lean his head on his shoulder. He kept his hand on the young hunter's head, not allowing him to move away.

"You haven't lost it, kid. You know that skull that you kept telling me turned off women? That was the skull of the curse demon that I ran into about a month and a half ago. The one that gave me a blood curse. Well, after I killed it and undid that curse, I thought to keep part of the demon. Thought I needed a new trophy on the wall to brighten the place up a little. But when I went to get it mounted, the guy told me it was from a demon with phoenix in it's background." Dante paused to make sure Nero was listening.

"And? What's so interesting about that?"

"When properly used, it can bring someone back from the dead if they get killed once. Only works once and it's rare so I was saving it for a time when I had to die." Dante put his hand over the ex-order member's mouth so he could not interrupt him. "And no, I wasn't going to give it to you. Sure, it allows you to come back but you actually die too. Hurts like hell. Besides, I honestly didn't know if it was going to work." Nero grabbed onto the elder's hand and moved it away from his mouth.

"So that's why you wrote the note? Just in case it wouldn't work?" He asked, looking up at the older hunter from his forced position. Dante nodded. Nero glared at him and punched him in the stomach. "Bastard! Don't do that!" The other just laughed it off and buried his face in the younger man's snowy hair.

"You know, I'm not forcing you to lean against me anymore." The elder hunter grinned as Nero noticed he was not. He sat up quickly and pushed Dante away, blushing a deep red that nearly screamed cute to the older man. "Heh. Face it, kid. You missed me."

"Did not, old man." Nero shot back at him, choosing to glare at him instead of the floor this time.

"Says the kid wearing my old clothes." Dante chuckled. "If you don't start telling me how you really feel, you're going to be stuck with Sensus forever. Just so you know." Nero snorted at the comment and broke eye contact. He quickly looked for a different subject.

"What did you mean when you said the skull had to be 'properly used'?" He asked, raising an eyebrow as he noticed that Dante wrinkled his nose.

"Let's just say that demons skulls taste really nasty. There's a whole ritual thing you have to do before using it and it doesn't end in a appetizing way. I'm sure as hell not doing it again." Dante said. "It didn't work like I thought it would though. I thought it would bring me back in a few minutes but I guess it needed a bit more time than that. Sorry if I worried you, kid."

"You didn't." Nero lied again, swallowing down his emotions. He hoped that the Sensus would not give him away entirely but he knew it did. Dante smiled at him and wrapped an arm around the younger man's waist, pulling him closer.

"So..." Dante said, his smile turning into a devilish smirk as he pushed the other onto the bed and climbed over him. "We should start on getting rid of that other curse now." Nero blushed and struggled against him lightly, wondering why he suddenly did not mind being this close to the elder. He really did not know why that smirk was making him want to know what Dante had in mind.

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